INTRODUCTION

With the increasing deterioration of ecological systems on which human beings

rely and the aggravation of the environmental crisis, human beings have
realized that we cannot rely on economic and judicial methods alone to solve
the problems of environmental pollution and ecological imbalances. Only after
we have adopted an appropriate attitude towards nature and have established a
new ethical relationship between human beings and nature will we be able to
deal with the issues of environmental pollution and ecological imbalances.
Environmental ethics and its approaches can play a vital role to make a balance
between man and other beings in our surrounding environment.

ENIVRONMENTAL ETHICS

Environmental ethics is a sub-discipline of philosophy that deals with the

ethical problems surrounding environmental protection. It aims to provide
ethical justification and moral motivation for the cause of global environmental
protection. It is concerned with the issue of responsible personal conduct with
respect to natural landscapes, resources, species, and non-human organisms. It
considers the ethical relationship between people and the natural world and the
kind of decisions people have to make about the environment:

  Should we cut down the main forest for the sake of human consumption?
  Should we knowingly cause the extinction of other species?
  Should humans be forced to live a simpler life style in order to protect
and preserve the environment?

HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

While numerous philosophers have written on this topic throughout

history, environmental ethics only developed into a specific philosophical
discipline in the 1970s. This emergence was no doubt due to the increasing
awareness in the 1960s of the effects that technology, industry, economic
expansion and population growth were having on the environment. The
development of such awareness was aided by the publication of two important
books at this time. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, first published in 1962,
alerted readers to how the widespread use of chemical pesticides was posing a
serious threat to public health and leading to the destruction of wildlife. Of
similar significance was Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book, The Population Bomb,
which warned of the devastating effects the increasing human population has on
the planet’s resources and implanted themselves into both public consciousness
and public policy over subsequent years. 
 TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
With the emergence of several theories, several environmental ethics have
emerged. While some protect human beings, others protect plants, animals and
other elements of nature. The types include:

o Social ecology, which is the study of human beings and their relation to
their environment.
o Deep ecology promotes that all beings have an intrinsic value. 
o Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism that helps us look at earth as a
woman so that we can respect it in a better way

ISSUES INVOLVED IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

 Consumption of natural resources: Since humans are part of nature,

sustainable use of resources can be achieved through cooperation with nature.
 Destruction of forests: Big industries and multinational companies form
the major section which exploits forests unsustainably. However, the brunt of
the destruction is faced by the poor and tribal who are the inhabitants of the
forests. It leads to the loss of biodiversity, habitats and extinction of plants and
animals.
 Environmental pollution: Consequences of environmental pollution do
not respect national boundaries. Moreover, the poor and weaker sections of
society are disproportionately affected by negative effects of climate change.
 Anthropocentrism: It refers to an ethical framework that grants “moral
standing” solely to human beings. Thus, an anthropocentric ethic claims that
only human beings are morally considerable in their own right, meaning that all
the direct moral obligations we possess, including those we have with regard to
the environment, are owed to our fellow human beings.
 Equity: People living in the economically-advanced sections/ parts use
greater amount of resources and energy per individual and also waste more
resources. This is at the cost of poor people who are resource-deprived.
 Animal rights: The plants and animals that share the Earth with us too
have a right to live and share the Earth’s resources and living space. Animal
welfare is relevant to environmental ethics because animals exist within the
natural environment and thus form part of environmentalists’ concerns.

MAIN APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Libertarian extension: This began in 1949 when Aldo Leopold’s book Sand
County Almanac was published after his death .This inspired a new approach to
the environment and an interest in ecology as a science .The book is a mixture
of natural history and philosophy, and calls for a new approach to the
environment. “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity ,stability
and beauty of the biotic community .It is wrong when it tends otherwise. We
need to develop an ethics tom deal with man’s relationship top land ,animals
and plants ,and to extend our social conscience from people to land ,and that it
is not right to see the natural world simply in terms of its economic worth to
humans.
Deep ecology is concerned with the richness ,diversity and intrinsic value of all
the natural world .There is intrinsic and inherent worth of the environment
Every being, whether human ,animal or vegetable has an equal right to live and
blossom .This is called Ecosophy .By ecosophy is meant a philosophy of
ecological harmony or equilibrium.

Ecologic extension:
Whereas Libertarian Extension can be thought of as flowing from a political
reflection of the natural world, ecologic extension is best thought of as a
scientific reflection of the natural world. Ecological Extension argues for the
intrinsic value inherent in collective ecological entities like ecosystems or the
global environment as a whole entity. It places emphasis not on human rights
but on the recognition of the fundamental interdependence of all biological (and
some a biological) entities and their essential diversity. Holmes Rolston, among
others, has taken this approach.
This category might include James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis; the theory
that the planet earth alters its geo-physiological structure over time in order to
ensure the continuation of an equilibrium of evolving organic and inorganic
matter. The planet is characterized as a unified, holistic entity with ethical worth
of which the human race is of no particular significance in the long run.

Conservation Ethics
Conservation ethics is an extension of use-value into the non-human biological
world. It focuses only on the worth of the environment in terms of its utility or
usefulness to humans. It contrasts the intrinsic value ideas of 'deep ecology,'
hence is often referred to as 'shallow ecology,' and generally argues for the
preservation of the environment on the basis that it has extrinsic value –
instrumental to the welfare of human beings. Conservation is therefore a means
to an end and purely concerned with mankind and inter-generational
considerations. It could be argued that it is this ethic that formed the underlying
arguments proposed by Governments at the Kyoto summit in 1997 and three
agreements reached in the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS & ITS PRINCIPLES

There are several approaches or principles to determine how we are to value our
environment. The list below states all the principles that have been
predominantly found in those theories.
1. Anthropocentrism: It suggests that human beings are the most important
beings. All other living beings are but accessories that would assist in
their survival. Now, there are two further divisions of anthropocentrism.
They are weak anthropocentrism and strong anthropocentrism.While
weak anthropocentrism believes that human beings are the centre because
it is only through their perspective that environmental situations can be
interpreted.

2. Non-Anthropocentrism: As opposed to anthropocentrism, non-

anthropocentrism, this principle gives value to every object, every animal
in nature. It is a principle that believes in everything that sustains itself in
nature.

3. Psychocentrism: Psychocentrism is the principle that believes that

human beings hold more value in the environment since their mental
capacities are better developed and far more complex than any other
element in the environment.

4. Biocentrism: It is a term that holds not only an ecological but also a

political value. It is a philosophy that imparts importance to all living
beings. In terms of environmental ethics, biocentrism is the principle that
ensures the proper balance of ecology on the planet.

5. Holism: The term holism had been coined by Jan Smuts in his book
called Holism and Evolution (1926). Holism considers environment
systems as a whole rather than being individual parts of something. It
considers these environment systems to be valuable.

6. Resourcism: The principle of resourcism says that nature is considered to

be valuable only because it has resources to provide with. Thus, nature
ought to be exploited.
 7. Speciesism: The principle of speciesism justifies the superiority of the
human race. Thus, it also justifies the exploitation and maltreatment of
animals by humankind.

8. Moral Considerability: Moral considerability towards a being means

that we agree that all our interactions whatsoever with the being is bound
by moral laws.

9. Instrumental Value: The instrumental value is the value imparted to a

being as long as it can serve us with resources.

10. 10. Intrinsic Value: Intrinsic value is the value attached to a being just
for itself and not only for its resourcefulness.

CONCLUSION

Ecological consciousness safeguard against cruelty to all creatures. As it is said-

“Sarve Sukhinassantu sarve santu niramayah

Sarve bhadrani pashyantu ma kasciddukha-bhagabhavat.”

(May all be happy, May all be free from disease. May all realise what is good.
May none be subject to misery.)

As the Utilitarianism -“Greatest happiness of the greatest number”, a

philosophical concept also maintains that the balance of pleasure and pain
should be taken equally into consideration. Thus, we the human beings, along
with the other forms of life are a part of the food chain closely associated with
each other together form our environment.